Category: Virtual Reality Technology

Alex Hern is an entrepreneur with a long and storied career; he has founded or co-founded the Inktomi Corporation, Yesmail, Military Commercial Technologies, Arcsight, CloudShield and NewHomes.com, and was a board member of Zero Knowledge Systems (now Radial Point). His newest venture is Tsunami, which hopes to change business communications with emerging virtual reality technology. Read more about Alex Hern at bloomberg.com.

In an interview with IdeaMensch, Hern explained that he came up with the idea when he realized that GPUs, rather than CPUs, would soon be dominating the technological sphere. He decided to be the one to make the new applications and platforms for that shift.

He said that he is excited about a lot of upcoming technological advancements, including artificial intelligence, machine learning and how cloud-based computing can affect graphics-intense applications. Much of his work is spent thinking about these sort of innovations and trying to come up with new ways to use them.

He also had a lot to say when it comes to general advice for aspiring entrepreneurs. He revealed that remaining focused is the most important thing to success, noting that it is “extremely important and surprisingly difficult.” To that end, he said that maintaining a consistent schedule is one habit that everyone should try to achieve.

“It’s a marathon, not a sprint,” he added, when asked what advice he would give to his younger self. “Take your time to make the right long-term decisions.”

Other advice included not multitasking (that includes interrupting work to use social media) and not micromanaging every aspect of your business; having reliable workers is a better strategy.

He also noted that he recent gave his young daughter $100 to start her own dog-walking business. “She came to me with a good plan and I believe you have to back those you believe in,” he explained. Follow Alex Hern on Linkedin.